Every child with the same middle name?

[Foz]

My Great Grandmother and her 6 siblings all had the same middle name.

It was their mothers maiden surname.

It seemed to be the thing to do in those days.  I wonder why?   

[toni*]

maybe if there were no male children it would be a way of bringing the name forward a generation.
also if the parents were unmarried this was another reason to have a surname as a middle name.
at least it helps you pick out you family members for the BMD

[Willow 4873]

I have several branches on my tree who used the mothers maiden name as a middle name and a couple where the name has been passed down through the generations

Least it makes them easier to find at times

Willow x

[Foz]

My late husbands father had an unusual middle name.  
I've traced it back about three generations, and it seems that it was the surname of a well-to-do 'gentleman' who had his way with my hubbys great great grandmother when she was a young girl.    
Of course he was already married, so couldn't make an honest woman of her!    
The name has come down the generations, although my husband didn't have it, but
our son has it and his son has it also.  

[rancegal]

My daughter's 3 children all have the same middle name, not for any particular reason. When the second was born, they decided to give her the same middle name as the first. When the third was born, I said 'well you may as well continue the tradition and give him the name as well'. It isn't a surname or anything.

[toni*]

i remember watching a programme a little while ago and in this programme the son was called one name but to recieve money from will there were conditions that he changed his name to that of his grandmother, not quite the same but i wonder if 'wills' had anything to do with it.

[pjbuk007]

A bit off the original point, but my great uncle, Newark Burton, was a lad from NRY who went to the USA.  He started off as a clerk, but became a lawyer and was given the title "Judge" when he died.

He was christened Newark Burton but after a few years in the USA he started using his Mother's maiden name as a middle name.  Pressumably because he was tapping into a historic American family?  He is known as N L Burton or Newark Lincoln Burton for the latter part of his life.

There is a family tradition that my father's family were related to Abraham Lincoln by marriage.  I cannot substantiate this and suspect it was just a useful myth.

[flocklet]

Just to add my bit, my family all have the middle name of WENLOCK, including myself. I've given this name to both our children as well. The furthest I've got with this name is 1750, & this fellow still carries the middle name. I'm still hopefull of finding where this name came from. Could be a maiden name? At least when  I find someone  having this middle name, I KNOW  I'm on the right track!!

[saar3]

I have seen this happen as a way of indentifying the real father where there has been illegitimacy somewhere down the line.

I had on family where there was a man living with his 'housekeeper' and loads of housekeeper's children all with his surname as their middle name. After he died they actually used his surname for census entries. But for BMD registration they went back to using their mother's name with their father's name as middle name.